Official Blog of Author MICHAEL THOMAS BARRY.
A blog which discusses varied topics that are related to the authors many books. Michael is a columnist for CrimeMagazine.com and a reviewer for the New York Journal of Books.
Questions or comments can be sent to ocauthor6434@gmail.com

Friday, September 13, 2013

Author Roald Dahl was born - 1916

On September 13, 1916, Roald Dahl, author of Charlie and
the Chocolate Factory (1964) and James and the Giant Peach (1961), was
born in South Wales. Dahl's childhood was filled with tragedy. His father and
sister died when Dahl was three, and he was later brutally abused at his
boarding school. After high school, he traveled widely, joining an expedition
to Newfoundland and later working in Tanzania. In World War II, he joined the
Royal Air Force and became a fighter pilot. He flew missions in Libya, Greece,
and Syria, and was shot down in the Libya, suffering serious injuries. After he
recovered, Dahl was sent to Washington, D.C., as a military attaché and there
he met writer C.S. Forester who suggested he write about his war experiences,
and ten days later Dahl had his first publication, in the Saturday Evening
Post. Dahl wrote his first book, The Gremlins, for Walt Disney, in
1943, and the story was later made into a Disney film. He wrote several popular
adult books, including Someone Like You (1953) and Kiss Kiss
(1959), and began writing stories for his own four children in 1960. James
and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory became
bestsellers. He also wrote the screenplay for Charlie (with a title
change-the movie was called Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory), Chitty
Chitty Bang Bang (1968), and a James Bond film, You Only Live Twice
(1967). Dahl did most of his writing on the family farm, writing two hours
every morning, two hours every afternoon, and tending to the animals in
between. He was divorced from his wife, Oscar-winning actress Patricia Neal, in
1983, and remarried. He died in 1990 at age 74.

Michael Thomas Barry
is the author of Literary Legends of the
British Isles. The book can be purchased from Amazon through the following
links: